Death Resonance, the latest Soilwork album is a mix of the old and the new. The album starts off with two new tracks, the blistering ‘Helinksi’ with its punky driving snare, catchy choruses and melodic guitar lines, and is followed by the title track which, while dropping the pace slightly, still has the melodic sensibilities that keep your ears glued to the sounds emanating from the speakers. To be honest I’d been writing off a lot off the new Swedish Melodic Death metal scene for some time now, and how I’ve longed for the days of old…but these tracks leave me hopeful for the remainder of the album.

From here, the rest of the Death Resonance is made up of bonus tracks that have appeared on various albums in different parts of the world. ’The End Begins Below the Surface’ kinda has an At the Gates feel to it, but morphs into something of its own going further along into the track, while ‘My Nerves, Your Everyday Tool’ – my first instinct was hearing a nod to In Flames before turning into something more Soilwork-ish. ‘When Sound Collides’ is a track that sounds like something off A Predators Portraitwhich is a big plus for me! ‘Sweet Demise’ has a riff that is easily identifiable as a “traditional” Swedish Melodic Death riff but that’s all this song really does for me…and it’s interesting to hear ‘Sadistic Lullaby’ get a work-over, but unfortunately a lot of the 2016 mixes don’t do much to keep me interested, except ‘Martyr’ which has such an amazing vocal verse melody!

Overall this album has the cool melodic guitar lines and crushing riffs you’d expect from a Soilwork album, and Speed’s unique and catchy vocal hooks show why he’s one of death metals best vocalists going around these days. While I haven’t really paid too much attention to the modern-era of this band, this is a pretty solid album which to be honest, I was expecting little from…and that is a great thing. There’s some cool tunes here and as usual the production is big, crisp and clean. Death Resonance is an album for the fans who are looking to tie in the missing bonus tracks found elsewhere, with a couple of great new songs to boot. Definitely worth a few listens, if not a permanent part of your collection.
8 wall of deaths out of 10